Porsche 718 Cayman Tuning
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We look at 718 Cayman tuning and highlight the best upgrades. Porsche 718 Caymans provide a fun base for your project and with carefully chosen uprated upgrades you can really maximize your driving pleasure.
The 718 Cayman is a awesome tuning project to have. Plan ahead and research 718 Cayman tuning to save yourself making the usual tuning errors we frequently come across.
718 Cayman Handling/Suspension upgrades
Handling modifications are the thing most do first for the 718 Cayman.
Putting a little negative camber on the fronts and a degree or two of toe in to improve stability or toe out for better cornering, will radically enhance your 718 Cayman in handling and cornering.
Drop the car optimally somewhere in the region of 22mm - 38 mm. and fit modified stiffer dampers, bigger drops will need other modifications in most instances.
Look out for adjustable coilovers which enable you to lower or raise the car and this allows you to tweak your handling.
Is there anything I should keep in mind while deciding on suspension upgrades for my 718 Cayman?
Improvements to the bushings
Bushing improvements are needed so what's involved?
It is possible to connect the 718 Cayman's suspension components to the chassis of the 718 Cayman using poly bushes, which are replacements for the rubber mounts. The rubber ones typically deteriorate with time and need replacing anyway so why not upgrade.
By replacing new OEM rubber bushings, you may greatly improve your vehicle's performance.
Because the polyurethane bushes are firmer, the ride may be a bit less forgiving, but they will last longer and maintain the handling.
Worn bushings may also hasten the decay of other suspension components due to the increased vibration and play.
A new set of poly bushings might help to reduce the excessive play associated with rubber bushings.
Some poly bushings are hard to locate, but most will find the primary mounts readily available in their regions Often, custom 718 Cayman polyeyurothane bushes may be manufactured to your requirements.
Our aim in 718 Cayman engine tuning should be to increase peak power and Torque at the top end.
To be completely frank and honest, on the more modest engine sizes you are wasting your time spending money on modifications, so if this applies to you get yourself an engine swap then apply the following mods.
718 Cayman Tuning modifications.
Typically these performance mods are usually carried out by our members, decide how far you want to go before you begin.
Getting the best modified parts for your planned usage of the car is a time and money saver. Stage 3 (competition) mods just don't work well on the road and will make the car undrivable.
Please watch our video which covers the 5 principles of tuning your car. Be sure to keep up with our latest YouTube content and subscribe.
Best mods for your 718 Cayman
- Flowing and porting the engine head - for larger gains, you will get better flow and make a more efficient engine if you do this to support your other mods.
- Braking Mods - Stopping your 718 Cayman should be near the top of your Mods list.
- 718 Cayman Handling modifications - Upgrading your suspension radically improves your 718 Cayman handling Poly Bushes and Coilovers are typically fitted to achieve this
- Fast road cams are one of the most significant mechanical changes, but we strongly suggest they be installed by someone who knows what they are doing and it can sometimes be hard to find one but we are sure you'l; find a local firm to regrind a stock cam .
- Upgrades to turbochargers and superchargers - A New Turbo is the most dramatic method to improve intake air supply, which permits you to use more fuel and make power gains. It is one of the most expensive modifications it offers big gains.
- Remaps - 718 Cayman engine tuning/remapping ensures the most advantage for your investment, aftermarket ECUs, and piggyback ECUs are all alternatives.
- Low mass flywheel - a reduced weight flywheel will improve the engines rev changes. In some cases flywheel lightening is not not a great upgrade for all 718 Cayman engines.
- Air Intake and Sports Exhausts - Note that on their own these mods won't ADD HP on most cars, but they will enable you to lift power after other mods by removing the restriction.
718 Cayman Tuning Stages
Typical stage 1 mods often include: Panel air filter, Lighter flywheel, Alloy wheels, Sports exhaust, Engine Tunes/Remapping, Suspension upgrade (drop 22mm - 38 mm.).
Typical stage 2 mods often include: high flow fuel injector, Ported and polished head, Power/Sport clutch, fuel pump upgrades, Fast road cam.
Typical stage 3 mods often include: Internal engine upgrades (pistons/head/valves), Competition cam, Sports gearbox, Engine balancing, Adding or upgrading forced induction (turbo/supercharger).
Your aim when tuning the engine should be a wide torque curve. You want to avoid sending all the torque to be at the top end unless you are creating a motor sport car.
The point of our tips is to give a starting base of modifying upgrades and point you in the right direction, our forum is the place to go for detailed advice and tips on your car tuning project, the best tuning modifications and all aspects of modding cars.Fast road cams offer one of the biggest power gains for your money as far as a stand alone modified modifications goes on a NA (naturally aspirated) engine.
It improves the intake and exhaust flow and increases the power if done right. Ideally you'd add other mods and finish up with a reflashed ECU. TorqueCars would caution you not to go with a competition cam as this affects the engines idling and general town driving characteristics.
You will need to ensure that the engine is not starved of fuel so will need to increase the fuelling.
Frequently power losses, flat spots and erratic idling after uprated mods are done can usually be traced to timing or fuel delivery issues. Improved injectors will enable you to supply sufficient fuel to the engine.
Uprate the fuel pump to cope with the extra fuel requirements of your tuned 718 Cayman's uprated injectors.
718 Cayman Intake and Exhaust Tuning.
Now we move on to the intake and exhaust and ensure proper flow through the engine. Please note that WE DO NOT RECOMMEND INDUCTION KITS, unless you have tuned your car extensively and are finding that the standard air intake has become the bottleneck.
For most 718 Cayman engines TorqueCars would suggest you just go with a washable panel air filter. On heavily tuned engines and turbo vehicles an induction kit will help release the power providing you address the problem of needing cold air.
Sports exhausts will certainly help air flow through the engine but avoid an exhaust that is too wide or you might just stuff your flow rate and make things worse. So generally speaking, keep to a size of 1.5 to 2.5 inches for best results.
Airflow through the head can be dramatically increased with some professional gas flowing. These should match and be setup to take into account any other engine mods. A good multi plate fast road performance clutch will help to keep that power going where it should. Never cut corners or think that the standard OEM clutch to cope. The best mods we recommend for your 718 Cayman are fast road camshaft, remap, induction and exhaust, suspension.
NA (naturally aspirated) engines do not achieve big power gains if you tune/remap them, unless you have done extensive modifications. With turbocharged engines this is another story. A tuned/remapped turbo will give large power gains and fully release the potential power of the engine. The most significant power gains for NA (naturally aspirated) engines usually involve the addition of forced induction. It is often easier to bolt on a supercharger than it is to fit a working turbo. With a turbo the boost curve is related exponentially to the engine speed making it more challenging to map.
The nice steady boost and rpm characteristics of the supercharger make them easier to map. Adding forced induction will nearly always require a lower compression ratio or water injection.
718 Cayman Alloy wheel upgrades.
Due to the fact that alloy wheels are less heavy they improve performance and they help to cool the brake disks. If you are serious about performance then you will need to carefully choose your tires - ideally with a directional tread pattern tire. Large 718 Cayman alloy wheels can decrease performance. If you get big alloy wheels you will be changing your final drive ratio.
For this reason we would advise sticking to a maximum wheel size of 18 inches, although we know some of our members have gone larger than this with no problems.
If you would like to know more, or just get some friendly advice on Tuning your car please join us in our friendly forum where you can discuss 718 Cayman options in more detail with our 718 Cayman owners. It would also be worth reading our unbiased Porsche tuning articles to get a full grasp of the benefits and drawbacks of each modification.
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